The Military Child Education Coalition Supporting the Interstate Compact 6 November 2015 David Splitek, Ph.D., Program Manager, Higher Education Initiatives 1

Our Mission To ensure inclusive, quality educational opportunities for all military and veteran-connected children affected by mobility, family separation, and transition. 2

1.Our core constituency is children and youth whose parents are serving or have served in our nation’s military. 2.We help children who are or may be affected by high mobility, transitions, and family separations thrive in good and challenging times. 3.We advocate for children with national, state and local policy leaders to ensure their education needs are recognized and appropriate support is provided. 4.We educate and empower parents to be their child’s first and best advocate. 3 Advancing Our Mission - the Outcomes

5.We train volunteers, youth-serving professionals and educators to respond to the complex needs of military-connected children. 6.We teach military and civilian students, through a 100% acceptance model, to recognize their own strengths, support their peers, and thrive socially, emotionally, and academically. 7.We develop and provide an array of research-informed tools, supports, and resources to meet the dynamic needs of children. 8.We collaborate with foundations and corporate partners, and other stakeholders of common interest, to create and expand innovative ways to support children. 9.We lead a coalition of partners… for the sake of the child 3 Advancing Our Mission - the Outcomes

MCEC is a Coalition of - Military Families Military Leaders Educators Individuals Local Communities Public School Districts Organizations Private Schools Small Businesses Colleges & Universities Department of Defense Schools Corporations Military Installations 4

6 Our Spheres of Influence 6

Challenges to College, Career and Life Readiness Challenges to CCLR Mobility School to SchoolTransitionsFamily Separations Educators Local Education AgenciesPolicy & Legislation Missed prerequisite course Academic progress delayed Multiple parent school choices New teachers/counselors Break in continuity 6-9 moves K thru 12 Understanding the impacts above Knowing who is a military child Varying philosophies in teaching Behavioral issues in classroom Station to station Military to civilian Civilian to military Middle to high school High school to post secondary Break in support services Wounded, ill injured parent Knowing who are the military children Differences in district and state curricula Sequencing of curriculum Large % of students with special needs Lack of connectedness with school Why MCEC Exists Combat tours Training deployments Temporary duty assignment “Gone is gone” Anticipation of the above Distracted parent(s) Unique state standards Adopting and implementing military student identifier Implementing MIC3 9

How We Can Help Communication Dialogue and Problem Solving Positive Promotion 5

9 How We Serve Military-Connected Families and Communities SchoolQuest MCEC site for finding and comparing schools; State school requirements; test prep strategies; Preparing for college & scholarship finder. (SchoolQuest.Org) Homeroom Interactive engagement and collaboration community creating solutions to issues for military-connected children; mobilizes participants and empowers supporters with a voice while expanding reach to new communities. (Homeroom.militarychild.org) 22

Policy Priorities Data Quality: We support inclusion of a military-connected student identifier in state public school data systems to help better understand and track academic progress of these students as they move through their K-12 school years. College and Workplace Ready: We support programs designed to ensure that all students are college and workplace-ready when they graduate from high school. Implementation of the Interstate Compact: We support the Interstate Compact on Educational Opportunities for Military Children. The Compact provides the best opportunity for continuity for mobile military children throughout their K-12 school years. 5